Actually, There Should Be More SNL50 Content

Television institutions deserve our respect.

This weekend’s Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special is a big deal. NBCUniversal and the popular press have treated it as such.

Peacock’s SNL50 hub is loaded with themed playlists, new behind-the-scenes looks, a feature-length documentary on SNL and music (Ladies and Gentlemen…), and a four-episode series (Beyond Saturday Night) about the sketch institution’s history. Tonight (Friday), an anniversary concert will stream live on Peacock from Radio City Music Hall. Meanwhile, major outlets have published ceremonial listicles, retrospective thinkpieces, and big interviews. There’s even a big Lorne Michaels book coming out next week.

Some might argue that this is too much fanfare for a comedy program that is often unfunny. Others might suggest we shouldn’t honor SNL right now when Michaels asked the two guys currently stripping the government to the studs host in the name of “nonpartisan” grandstanding.

But I think the celebration hasn’t gone nearly far enough. The documentaries produced for Peacock are serviceable. Ladies and Gentlemen… is a great ode to SNL’s impact on music. The first 10 minutes are my favorite 10 minutes of anything I’ve watched this year.

Beyond Saturday Night, though? Only fine—and that’s not good enough. The hour-long documentaries on the series’ audition process and production schedule are great. The inside look at the tumultuous eleventh season and Michaels’ return is compelling, if unsurprisingly hagiographic toward him. More Cowbell gives the titular sketch an extended look that only made me want 15 more episodes about other iconic moments in SNL’s run.

Why is Beyond Saturday Night just four episodes? In a maximalist world, the series should be 50 episodes and highlight more sketches, performers, controversies, and innovations than even the biggest SNL sicko can handle. Give me an episode on how Michaels and company pick hosts. Do a full Weekend Update roundtable. Rank the 10 worst episodes. Acknowledge the series’ tricky relationship toward race. Not every episode would need to be an hour long. Think of it as a bigger and even more self-aggrandizing version of 30 for 30, ESPN’s extended 30th-anniversary celebration. Maybe that’s too much to ask for, but then Beyond Saturday Night’s episode order at least has to be a factor of five. You can’t make one more episode to get to five?

I wouldn’t stop there. NBC should have been running more primetime episodes, best-ofs, musical performances, and previous anniversary specials. The 15th- and 25th-anniversary specials should be available on Peacock alongside number 40. Somehow, SNL is the only major media property not to have an official podcast. This would have been a great time to start one. Journalists have done an awesome job tackling the anniversary from every angle. NBCUniversal and Broadway Video should have done it for them.

I could go on and on. It’s not often that television programs turn 50. SNL is one of our most significant television properties, warts and all. It deserves more than to serve as anti-churn Peacock content.

This is TV Plus, a newsletter about television written by Cory Barker, a media studies professor and veteran blogger. Readers can expect dispatches on industry trends, overlooked shows, and historical antecedents to current events.

You can follow me on Bluesky or email me at barkerc65[at]gmail.com. Thanks for tuning in.